|
|
|
| Free E-magazine |
| Subscribe to our Free E-Magazine on Pregnancy. |
| Learn More |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Home > Complication & Medications > An Un-medicated Birth
| |
| | An Un-medicated Birth
| |
| |
If you want to avoid pain medications during labor and birth, you will need to plan and prepare yourself in advance. Here are some suggestions that will reduce your medicine intake.
Before Labor
Prepare yourself thoroughly. Know and master the relaxa-tion skills, breathing techniques, and comfort measures.
Have one or more supportive partners-husband/lover, friend, relative-prepare with you. Be sure you understand and share each other`s priorities and wishes for the birth experience.
Find a doctor or midwife who is supportive of your wishes. Discuss medications and your feelings about them before labor begins. Your Birth Plan should include your wish to avoid medication.
Select a place where natural childbirth is encouraged. The staff encourages pain-relieving techniques, offers encourage-ment and emotional support.
During Labor
Inform the staff of your wishes of an un-medicated childbirth. Instruct them to offer you encouragement even if you appear to be in pain. Advice about your labor progress, and ideas for helpful measures should be suggested by them. Take medication if you cannot do without them.
If on reaching a dilation of about five or six centimeter and following the other rules associated with labor you will be able to handle labor more easily. One golden rule to follow is that the more intense the labor is the more fast the whole thing will be. Labor`s intensity is an encouraging sign of progress.
In case of difficulties in labor, or you are not in a position to bear more pain, find out about your dilation, your progress or other relaxation methods, before asking for pain medications. If you know that your goal is near, then you would be able to bear a little more stress.
Medications for Pain Relief
Keep in mind the following factors regarding medications for pain relief during childbirth to help you with your decision making.
Medications can relieve some or all of your labor pain.
Labor often hurts more than you may have anticipated.
You cannot eliminate pain from childbirth, no matter what technique you adopt.
Medication will not guarantee a pain free childbirth from beginning to end.
Different drugs and anesthetics may affect your labor in different ways. Some drugs promote relaxation and hasten the progress of labor, others obstruct its progress and increase the need for other medical interventions.
Since drugs affect the unborn child, most physicians discourage heavy or unlimited use of medications during childbirth.
In case medication is unavoidable, and since medications affect the fetus directly or indirectly, the medical staff keeps an eye for negative effects and initiates corrective measures if necessary. Drugs affect the baby more than the mother because, the liver and the kidneys are not mature enough to detoxify, metabolize and excrete medications, thereby leaving a long lasting effect.
| |
| |
|
